Thursday, 1 January 2009

Arise, Sir Terry

Fantasy author Terry Pratchett has been knighted in the Queen's New Years honours list, and can now be referred to as Sir Terry. The author announced that he was 'flabbergasted' with the honour.

The honour was awarded both for his literary achievements and also his campaign to raise awareness of Alzheimer's. He was diagnosed with an early-onset form of the disease in late 2007 and donated $1 million for research into the disease. His fellow genre writer Pat Cadigan launched a "Match It For Pratchett" campaign that has raised further substantial sums for the cause.

Pratchett's most recent novel was the UK and US bestseller Nation, and he is currently working on two Discworld novels, Unseen Academicals and the next Tiffany Aching book, I Shall Wear Midnight.